The prismatic vision faded.The Frozen Chasm slowly returned—its frost pillars fractured, its air trembling with the aftermath of truths that should never have been spoken.
No one moved.
Not Xueya.
Not Yue Lian.
Not the Empress.
Not even Drakonix—who lay curled against Shan Wei, trembling with instinctive fear and rage.
Only Shan Wei stood unmoving, staring at his own hands.
Hands that now felt… different.
He whispered:
"…The spark of the First Prismatic Emperor… is inside me?"
The Observer nodded once.
"It has been since the moment you were born."
Xueya stepped closer, frost light spilling from her palms.
"Shan Wei… does that hurt? Do you feel anything strange?"
Shan Wei didn't answer immediately.
Because deep inside his core—beneath layers of Qi, flame, lightning, and void—something pulsed.
A heartbeat.
Not his own.
Slow.Ancient.Powerful.
Like a forgotten titan stirring in its sleep.
He exhaled shakily.
"…I don't feel pain."
He closed his eyes.
"I feel someone watching."
Xueya stiffened.
Drakonix hissed, feathers rising.
The Empress gripped her staff.
The Observer's voice softened.
"Then the spark has awakened."
1. The Spark Remembers
Before Shan Wei could react—the world around him vanished.
He found himself standing in a void of prismatic mist.
Colors shifted around him, forming vague shapes—mountains, cities, stars, palaces—
but all incompleteall fracturedall fading.
"What is this place…?"
A voice answered:
"Memory."
Shan Wei spun.
No one stood behind him.
Yet the voice echoed everywhere—in the mistin the lightin his bones.
"A fragment of what was.A shadow of a world that no longer exists."
Shan Wei clenched his fists.
"Are you… the First Prismatic Emperor?"
Silence.
Then—
"…No.I am only an echo."
The mist thickened.
Shapes formed—an image of a man in radiant armor, his face blurred, his posture unyielding.
He stood atop a crumbling sky-palace.
Behind him, a darkness devoured everything.
Shan Wei felt a sharp pain in his chest.
"Why am I seeing this?"
"Because you must understand what awaits you."
The echo's tone became heavy.
"My empire was erased.My people vanished.My fate collapsed."
Shan Wei swallowed.
"Because of the Era Devourer."
"Yes."
The echo lifted a hand.
Behind him, the devouring void pulsed hungrily.
"I fought.I resisted.I defied fate."
He lowered his hand.
"And I lost."
Shan Wei's eyes narrowed.
"…Why give me your spark? Why entrust me with this burden?"
The echo spoke, voice soft but unbreakable:
"Because you were not meant to exist."
Shan Wei froze.
"And it is the unexpected that breaks destiny."
2. The Spark's Warning
The mist swirled violently.
Shan Wei saw glimpses:
Drakonix fully grown, wings spanning galaxies.Xueya in a frost armor that froze stars.Jin Wei leading a puppet legion across worlds.Seven Prismatic Thrones forming around Shan Wei.A sky shattered by darkness.
The echo spoke:
"My empire died because it was too perfect."
The images warped into destruction.
"Yours may die because it is too early."
Shan Wei gritted his teeth.
"Then tell me how to stop it."
The echo hesitated.
"I cannot."
Shan Wei felt a surge of frustration.
"Why?!"
The echo answered with a truth that hit harder than any blow:
"Because your fate does not belong to the path I walked.""You are not my successor.""You are my correction."
Shan Wei blinked.
"…Your correction?"
The echo leaned forward—its faceless expression somehow filled with weight.
"The universe purged me because I fit too perfectly into its design."
"You… do not fit at all."
Shan Wei's heart pounded.
"What does that make me?"
The echo replied with a whisper that split the void:
"A variable.""A disruption.""A possibility the Devourer cannot predict."
Then, with quiet certainty—
"A Prismatic Emperor born beyond fate."
The mist shattered.
3. Shan Wei Returns — And the World Responds
Shan Wei gasped and opened his eyes.
He was back in the chasm.
Everyone stared at him with fear, awe, or desperation.
Drakonix leapt into his arms, crying out.
"FWEEEE—!!"
Xueya grabbed his shoulders, face pale.
"Shan Wei! Your aura—what happened?!"
He exhaled slowly.
"…I saw him."
The Observer bowed his head.
"So the spark revealed itself."
Shan Wei nodded.
But before Xueya could ask more—a violent earthquake ripped through the chasm.
BOOOOOOOOM—!!!
Yue Lian braced herself.
"What now?!"
The Empress looked up in horror.
"The sovereignty barrier—it's reacting to Shan Wei!!"
And it was.
The barrier above them—once golden and still—was now flickering with prismatic colors.
Red.Blue.Gold.Green.Purple.Silver.Black.
The exact colors of Shan Wei's seven threads.
Xueya's eyes widened.
"It's… syncing with him!"
The Observer finally spoke:
"Qi Shan Wei… your spark has awakened your Core Awakening."
Shan Wei froze.
He whispered:
"Prismatic Overdrive…"
The Observer nodded.
"No.A precursor to it."
He pointed upward.
"Your presence has begun rewriting this realm."
The sovereignty barrier cracked.
Light surged.
And for the first time—the Frozen Chasm trembled in fear of a single cultivator.
4. Jin Wei Reactivates
A sharp WHIRRRRRRRR filled the air.
Everyone turned.
Jin Wei's broken body—still half-kneeling—began to glow.
Not red.
Not gold.
But white.
The Empress gasped.
"That color—that is the signature of the First Emperor's construct energy!"
Yue Lian stumbled backward.
"You're joking… Jin Wei was created by—?!"
Shan Wei stepped forward.
"Jin Wei…"
The puppet's single remaining eye flickered open.
"…Mas…ter…"
Its voice was glitchy, weak—but filled with something new:
Recognition.
"Detected…Prismatic Spark…Origin…Confirmed."
The Observer whispered:
"A puppet of the First Empire… reacting to the second spark…"
Shan Wei felt something twist in his chest.
"Jin Wei… what do you see?"
The puppet struggled—limbs twitching.
Then it whispered a phrase that froze the chasm colder than Xueya's frost:
"Warning…The Devourer's gaze…is upon you…already."
Everyone's breath stopped.
The Observer straightened sharply.
"Impossible. It should still be outside—"
BOOM.
The sky cracked.
Not from Qi.Not from formation collapse.Not from natural disaster.
From attention.
Drakonix buried his face into Shan Wei's chest, shaking violently.
Xueya grabbed his hand with both of hers.
The Observer whispered:
"…It found you."
Shan Wei inhaled deeply.
His prismatic heart blazed.
He looked at the sky—
and the sky looked back.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025All rights reserved.